Canada: Nova Scotia Province urged to pay for transsexuals' surgery - CBC

Province urged to pay for transsexuals' surgery
Last updated Aug 11 2005 08:42 AM ADT
CBC News

The Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project is promising a fight to have the province cover the cost of sex reassignment surgery.

Members have started to meet with the province's health-care providers to discuss the special needs of transsexuals who have either undergone surgery or who are living as a member of the opposite sex.

Eric MacDonald was born a woman 34 years ago. After hormone therapy, he's now living as a man.

MacDonald says if the Department of Health understood what life was like for people like him, it would change its policy and begin covering the cost of sex reassignment surgery and other treatments.

"For a transsexual, just to take a shower is a traumatic experience where you have to totally disembody yourself because you are showering the body of a stranger," he said.

Unlike British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Nova Scotia does not pay for any treatments. Surgery, for example, can cost up to $120,000.

Department of Health spokesperson Michelle Lucas says given the department's current priorities, it would be difficult to offer coverage for sex reassignment surgery.

Project members say their strategy is to gradually educate the public about transsexuals, but add that they're willing to move on to legal action if necessary.

OFFICIAL SITE: Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project